Just as a side note, I've made Charlie thirteen when she had Ruby. It really irritated me on the show that they messed around with the ages. First they said she was fourteen, then they said she was fifteen and neither of those ages match how old she was originally intended to be. Being a Charlie fan, obviously, I remember her telling Roman she was 26 when she first arrived in 2008 so she'd only be 27/28 now in the timeline but suddenly, thanks to this storyline, they've aged her several years! So even though I'm aging her a little, I thought thirteen was somewhere in the middle. Thanks for reading and I really appreciate your reviews. I hope you enjoy the chapter as the fall out over the truth begins... IJKS xxx
***
Chapter Sixty-Six
Ruby ran, blinded by tears and with no clear direction. Ground turned to sand as she found herself on the beach. Sinking down on her knees, she buried her face in her hands and sobbed. She felt like everything was crumbling around her. Her whole life had been a lie. How could Charlie be her mother? She must have been barely a teenager. And how could her parents... her grandparents... have agreed to let Charlie shirk her responsibilities to her own daughter? How could they have all lied to her? Didn't they love her enough to tell her the truth? And why couldn't Charlie have stepped up and been her Mum? Ruby cried harder when she remembered first moving to Summer Bay. With her Mum gone and her Dad busy with Morag before getting sick, Charlie had been her world. It was them against the universe, much as it had always been. Charlie had been her protector. Ruby had often referred to her as a parental figure in her mind. Charlie had helped raise her. And Ruby had always thought she was special for doing that. But she wasn't. She'd been doing far less than she ought to. Charlie had given birth to her. She should have had the courage to raise her, no matter how young she was. Instead she'd caught them all up in a horrific, tangled web of lies.
***
Charlie sobbed on the sofa as Joey sat beside her, holding her and attempting to calm her down. She kept her arm around her shoulders, pulling her in close and offering kisses to the top of her head. She held her hand, stroking her fingers and trying not to cry herself.
"She hates me," Charlie murmured.
"She's hurt and confused," Joey said. "She's had a big shock. She doesn't hate you. You mean too much to each other for her to hate you."
Charlie squeezed her eyes shut, unsure of whether Joey was right or wrong.
"Do you think we should go and find her?" Charlie asked.
"Let's try and call her first," Joey suggested.
Charlie nodded and pulled out her phone, quickly dialling Ruby's number. It rang and rang and rang.
***
Ruby ignored her mobile. It would undoubtedly be Charlie and she was not prepared to talk to her.
"Hello?"
Ruby turned to find Angelo standing behind her. She stared at him as if he was a stranger.
"Ruby? Are you okay?"
"I've just found out that my entire life has been a lie," Ruby said bitterly. "All they've done is deceive me since the day I was born."
Angelo moved closer and sat beside her.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"I don't even know where to start," Ruby sobbed. "I just got told that... that Charlie's my mother."
Angelo was stunned. He quickly pieced everything together. Charlie had been raped when she was thirteen. She'd also had a baby. Rummaging through her medical records had told him that much. And now Ruby was announcing that she was the child.
"I uh..."
He didn't know what to say.
"I'm sure Charlie didn't mean to hurt you."
"She's a selfish bitch!" Ruby spat. "She screwed someone, got knocked up and then didn't want to deal with the circumstances. She's destroyed my life, Angelo."
"Ruby, I don't think it was like that..."
Ruby whipped her head around to look at him.
"What does that mean?" she asked.
"Nothing," he said quickly. "I just can't imagine her giving you up to your parents... um, her parents, so lightly."
"You know something, don't you?" she accused venomously.
"What? No, I don't know anything. Why would Charlie tell me anything?"
"For a cop, you're shit at lying," Ruby snapped. "Angelo, what do you know?"
"I don't know anything!" Angelo said, beginning to move away.
He didn't want to talk about this.
"You do!" Ruby yelled. "Tell me what you know! Tell me!"
She leaned into him, angry, as if the whole thing was his fault, yelling that he had to tell her everything.
"I don't know!"
"Yes, you do! I can see it in your face! You know! Tell me what you know!"
"She was raped!" Angelo finally said.
Ruby fell silent. She swallowed hard, tears continuing to burn her eyes.
"What?" she asked quietly.
"I'm sorry," Angelo said.
He jumped to his feet and fled, knowing that he had made a huge mistake.
***
Charlie was still crying uncontrollably. Joey rocked her gently back and forth, stroking her hair and rubbing her back, trying to do anything she possibly could to soothe her. It had been an hour and they still hadn't heard from Ruby.
"So, I'm the product of a rape?"
Both women jolted. They turned to see Ruby standing in the doorway. Charlie felt sick.
"How do you know that?" she asked.
Ruby walked further into the room.
"Angelo told me."
"Angelo?"
She exchanged glances with Joey who looked equally confused.
"So, is this the kind of thing that everyone knew but me? Dad... sorry, Ross, Morag, Joey, Angelo. Anyone else?"
"I don't know how Angelo knows," Charlie said, utterly bewildered. "Dad knew from the start. I told Joey after the accident. And Morag found out recently. Ruby, I'm sorry."
"Sorry for which part exactly?" Ruby challenged. "Sorry for lying to me? Sorry for letting me find out where I came from through your ex-boyfriend? Sorry you completely let me down and ruined my life and everything I know, trust and love? Or sorry that you ever had me in the first place?"
"Ruby, of course I'm not sorry I had you. I love you!"
"Really? You have a funny way of showing it. You let your parents raise me. You let me live my life believing that you're my sister instead of my mother."
"Ruby, please let me explain," Charlie begged. "I'll tell you everything."
Ruby sat down.
"So tell me."
"I'll give you some privacy," Joey said.
She kissed Charlie's cheek and slipped out of the house.
***
Angelo headed into the Surf Club to get a drink. He felt terrible for telling Ruby the truth. It wasn't his place. It wasn't even something he should know about.
"What the hell do you think you were doing?" said an angry voice.
He turned to see Joey standing over him, looking furious and cold. He opened his mouth to speak but no sound came out.
"Well?"
She'd left the house to give the girl some privacy but knew that if she bumped into Charlie's ex, she would not be able to stop herself giving him a piece of her mind.
"Joey..."
She sat down.
"Do you think telling a teenage girl that her mother was raped was a helpful thing to do?" she said, keeping her voice low but still furious.
"She forced it out of me."
"How the fuck did you even know?" Joey demanded, her voice a little louder.
Angelo blanched.
"Charlie never told you. She's only ever talked about this with her parents, her aunt, Morag and me. She'd never have told you in a million years."
Angelo felt venom rise up within him and she paraded Charlie's trust in front of him as something she had but he never would.
"Look, I made a mistake," Angelo said, pushing his chair back and preparing to leave.
"If you've made things worse between Charlie and Ruby, she is never going to forgive you."
Angelo hurried from the room.
***
"You really hated me that much that you abandoned me?" Joey asked.
"I didn't... it wasn't about that. Ruby, I love you. I've loved you for your entire life but I was so broken. I just couldn't cope with anything," Charlie explained tearfully.
"How do you love me, Charlie?"
Charlie looked up and stared at her. She swallowed.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Do you love me like a sister? A mother? What?"
Charlie just stared, unable to answer. She loved her as a mother. But having spent sixteen years convincing herself that they were just sisters, made the subject more complicated than that. It had broken her heart when she'd returned from her aunt's house to find her child bonded with her parents. Giving her to them, living as her sister, had been devastating. Tearfully, she attempted to try and explain.
***
Joey arrived home an hour later to the sound of Charlie sobbing. Rushing towards her, Joey knelt on the floor. Ruby was nowhere in sight.
"Sweetheart, what's happened? Where's Ruby?"
"She's packing," Charlie cried.
Joey looked up, confused. She left Charlie and headed up to Ruby's bedroom. Knocking on the slightly open door, she tentatively poked her head around it.
"Ruby?"
The teenager turned to glare at her.
"What do you want?"
"Where are you going?"
"I'm staying a Xave's. At least I know I can I trust him. He's not a liar like Charlie. Like you."
"Ruby, this wasn't an easy thing for Charlie to tell you," Joey tried. "You know how much she loves you. You mean everything to her. Please stay and try to work through it?"
"We're not going to save sixteen years in one damn night, Joey," Ruby snapped.
She returned to her packing.
"I know that. But aren't you willing to try?"
"We talked. I found out that she was raped and she got pregnant with me. She then ran away and abandoned me for the first year of my life. When she came back, she still wouldn't be my Mum. How can you tell me that she loves me?"
"Because I know she does. She's shows you every day. She's told me and you countless times."
"How can she?" Ruby asked. "I'm the result of a man pinning her down and violently forcing himself on her. How can you love someone created from that?"
"Because her love for you overrides her pain over what happened."
"What would you have done?"
"What?"
"If you've got pregnant after what happened to you? What would you have done?"
"I don't know," Joey admitted. "I really don't know. But what I'm absolutely sure of is that Charlie did what she thought was best for you. She wanted you to have the best life imaginable."
"Well she's wrecked everything now, hasn't she? She should have either been my mother or my sister. She never should have tried to be both."
With that, Ruby pushed passed her and headed downstairs.
***
Charlie leapt up when she heard footsteps on the stairs. Ruby flew past her, closely followed by Joey. Charlie chased them into the kitchen.
"Please don't go, Ruby!" Charlie begged.
"I can't stay here," Ruby told her. "I'm sorry. Maybe with some space we could try and work things out. Because I do feel terrible about what you went through. But right now... I can't even look at you. I can't... I'm sorry Charlie but I don't feel like I can be anywhere near you."
With that, she turned and left. Charlie cried harder as she watched her disappear. Joey wrapped her up in her arms, holding her as close as possible.
